Silent Screams redux
by Verthril
Summary: Inspired by What If issue 87. In the wake of the death of Victor Creed, the latest generation to bear the X struggle to help one of their own as they settle into the newest branch of the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters. AU
1. Chapter 1

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made by this work.

_Author's Note : Inspired by the What If issue 87, Screams in the Night._

She sat on the roof staring off to the horizon lost to her own world. Few knew what she saw there, while the few that did wouldn't ever speak of the glimpses they witnessed. A ghost of her former self, once vibrant and full of life, now she quiet with rarely a spoken a word since the day it happened. As the fall leaves drifted on the winds, she stirred back to the reality she so desperately sought to escape with a sigh. Carefully she walked back to the old bell tower of the school, the portal to her escape. A moments distraction could spell disaster, a slip leading to a tumble and a fall some four stories. Perched upon the railing of the old bell a bird sat, pausing to take a step back to admire it, a loose shingle her undoing. She didn't scream, she didn't have the heart for it anymore, simply embracing her fate that rushed towards her.

A swift movement beyond her range of vision found her suddenly taken up tenderly, cradling her gently. The ground slowly neared, her saviour drifting down to walk them both to an old oak tree across the drive. As Jubilee looked up after a time she found a smiling face look looking back, setting her in her lap as she sighed in exasperation. Meekly Jubilee returned the smile, her gaze lingering a moment longer before falling on the main doors of the academy.

"Do be more careful Jubilation, I will not always be there to catch you." Monet said, following her gaze to the main doors as the Headmaster stepped out looking to the pair oddly.

"Is everything alright lass?" Sean called out, slowly closing on the pair as he casually walked across the lane.

"Everything is fine now, Jubilation was sitting upon the roof having yet another one of her spells. She paused to look at a bird, losing her footing on a loose single." Monet explained, looking down to the girl in her lap.

"Saints preserve us, I thought I had that door bolted shut." Sean exclaimed, drawing close and kneeling down to look to his charge..

"I would suggest something a little more sturdy than a mere deadbolt Mr. Cassidy, all that was left of it was some shattered metal and slag." Monet explained, having taken note of Jubilation's perilous perch to give a look to how she had gotten there before watching her though leaving her to do as she pleased.

"Ach, ye be right lass. I'll talk to Emma about getting something done before the poor girl gets back up there." Sean remarked, looking down to the despondent Jubilation, gently brushing a stray lock of hair out of her face.

"I shall keep an eye on her until then Mr. Cassidy, are you not needed at the airport?" Monet inquired, Sean suddenly looking to his watch and cursing.

"Thank ye lass, I almost forgot!" Sean exclaimed, rushing to the house and grabbing his car keys to call for Everett and Paige to join him.

The Cadillac convertible sped out the driveway, past the encompassing gates of the Academy, heading off to Logan International Airport to pick up the latest addition to the school. Jubilee followed the car with a lingering gaze before she once more looked up to the enigmatic Monet. Cautiously she crept from the arms that held her, sitting next to her elder peer with her legs crossed as she watched the main doors. As her eyes grew distant, Monet knew once again that Jubilation had become lost to reality, her mind retreating to that place where she had hid since that awful night had befallen the X-men.

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The screams had finally stopped, though she found the silence was far worse. The shadows flickered as the lasers of the scenario blinked in and out of existence, almost faster than the eye could see. He had to dead, there was no way he could survive that healing factor or not. Creeping to the window she looked down, instantly regretting it as she did so. The charred remains of Victor Creed laid strewn about the door, the lasers still lashing the burnt flesh, ever reducing him to nothing more than a blackened carcass. She felt the urge to vomit but fought against it. She had to get to Hank, if he was still alive he would need help.

Racing from the control room of the Danger Room, she ran back into the depths of the mansion, a shiver passing down her spine as the shadows grew darker and almost tangible as she took the steps of the winding stares two at a time. Coming to an abrupt halt, she stared down the corridor with fear welling in her as she looked to the lifeless form of Hank, strew outside the doors of the power core.

"Don't stand here, just go. Don't stand, just go. Don't stand here just go." Jubilee whispered, willing her body to move as she stood there frozen.

Tumbling forward with a graceless gate she rushed to his side, her stomach twisted in knots looking on the battered and broken form of the lovable man. Kneeling down with a her body trembling, she felt for a pulse as she done with Bishop, and nearly breaking down crying as the fates smiled upon her this time. It was ever so weak and tired but he was still alive. Fear suddenly overtook her as she looked from him to the corridor she had came from. The med lab was a horrid five flights up, the thought of carrying his massive frame up those stairs petrifying her.

"Oh god Hank! Don't die! Please don't die! I don't know what to do!" Jubilee wailed, tears welling in her eyes as the feeling of being utterly helpless and alone took hold of her.

'What'sa matter frail? Can't do a thing without yer Pappy Logan to hold her hand?' A voice called out, causing Jubilee to freeze.

She rose in a start sending a barrage of plasmoids down either end of the corridor to find it vacant aside from Hank and herself. Taking in a shuddering breath, she slowly crouched down and checked upon Hank's pulse again, just ever barely holding onto life.

"Okay Lee, it's just your mind playing tricks on you. Creed is..." Jubilee whispered, her throat growing tight as she dared not even say the word.

Shaking her head clear, she found new determination to her task at hand, getting Hank to the med lab before his faltering pulse beat for its final time. Looking about an idea struck her, rushing into the heavily damaged power core she started picking up strands of cable. Tumbling to his side again she checked once more for his pulse to lend her courage. Rewarded for the moment, she started to wrap the cable about Hank and then herself. Though she could never carry him, her stubborn will and determination would have to suffice her to drag him up those five flights of stairs, if it was the last thing she did.

'Probably will be frail. One wrong step and yull prolly fall over the edge, joinin' Bishop on the other side.' The voice called out once more.

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut the hell up!" Jubilee screamed, her head darting about wildly as she looked to the shadows, faint laughter ringing in her mind.

"Shut up..." Jubilee whispered, tears flowing freely from her eyes as she looked to Hank, a sobering image as she began her trek to the med lab.

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Monet looked to Jubilee, worried as she felt anger and grief radiating from her, a rare breach of the shields that had unconsciously been slammed up. Monet knew both she and Emma had been locked in the Danger Room as the Phalanx took free reign over the X-mansion. From what Emma told her, Jubilee had been the worst in those days, having to be fed the little food they had been given until Banshee had rescued them. Shaking her head to dismiss the revery of the tale Emma had told her in confidence, Monet looked down to the youngest member of Generation X with a concerned look.

"What do you see in there..." Monet whispered.

Reaching out to let their minds know another, she looked to the twisted visions below that was Jubilee's mental landscape, a realm of nightmares made of the mansion of the Xavier Estate. Probing further she saw a figure pulling a burden up a spiralling staircase, in that moment she realized that it was Jubilee with a tortured man tied to her slight frame. Drawing closer, she was not prepared for the nightmares that lurked, a flash of red and claws sending her reeling back to reality shaken and shocked.

"Mon Dieu!" Monet exclaimed, staring at Jubilee.

Tears threatened to spill from her eyes though she stubbornly refused to cry. Ever so gently she pulled Jubilee into her lap again, absently stroking her hair while she pulled her into a hug, hoping that she might feel the token affection. Whatever the young girl was struggling with, whatever demons she had to face, for now she had to do so alone with her walls built too high for anyone to penetrate. Sighing, she found an ironic sense of kinship, having spent her life within walls.

From her office the Headmistress looked out, her heart swelling as she noticed two figures out upon the lawn, the elder of the two tending to the shattered mind of the younger. A faint smile touched her, letting out a sigh as she turned back to her desk to review the files. Lost to her own thoughts, she barely noticed Clarice pop her head past the frame of the door. As the girl waited there politely Emma looked to her with a finger to keep her place.

"Might I help you Clarice?" Emma asked of the slight girl darkening her doorway.

"Miss Frost...I saw a little man in a loin cloth, he was spinning a bullroarer and then vanished." Clarice responded in a meek tone, slowly creeping into the room.

"Where did you see this man?" Emma inquired, leaning over her desk with a finger flicking aside her riding crop.

"Near the biosphere." Clarice replied.

"Hmm...do tell me if he returns. I do not care for unwelcome guests here." Emma remarked, a nod given before Clarice left.

Emma sighed, feeling a touch sad for herself yet even more sad for the timid girl. While she wished to exude a sense of authority, she did not wish for her students to either resent or fear her. So far of them Paige seemed eager to please, with Everett's own pleasant nature leaving him amicable to her. Angelo quite the opposite just seemed apathetic towards her, with Monet herself openly challenging her every chance found. Clarice needed a gentle hand Emma knew, timid and fearful after her experience of narrowly surviving the Phalanx. Then of course there was Jubilee, still traumatized since the long overdue death of Victor Creed. Sighing, Emma turned back to the window to watch the thorn in her side show another side of her self, comforting Jubilee out on the lawn, Emma finding some herself at the sight.

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"God Blue, cut down on the twinkies!" Jubilee cried out, pulling the fallen X-man up the stairs, counting every flight if for a sense of progress.

'Can't handle the dead weight frail?' The voice taunted, sending a shiver down Jubilee as she yet again checked for a pulse.

"Shut up! Shut up! You're dead! You can't hurt me! I killed you! Shut the hell up!" Jubilee screamed after finding a pulse, though having to accept it had grown even weaker.

The voice remained silent as her own words echoed down the stairs, bringing tears to her eyes as the awful truth came back to her, she had taken a life when X-men weren't to kill. But they couldn't blame her, she assured herself again, she had no choice. It was either him or her. He had already killed Bishop, and left Hank teetering on the brink. Summoning up her fleeting courage she struggled on, looking up to the doorway that stood a flight up, only one more flight to go until the last stretch of her trek.

'Sure they can't blame ya. Yer absolutely right. It was either you are me, and here your Uncle Vic was gonna leave yer guts all over the bloody mansion for them ta find. Though it wouldn't be the same without the runt around ta find yer corpse like he did that squaw of his.' The voice of Creed growled.

"Shut up! You didn't kill Silverfox! That memory was an implant! Your head is so full of lies that ya can't even tell what's real and what's not!" Jubilee screamed, a new strength finding it's way to her as she struggled on.

'Tough talk kid, yer the one talkin' ta a deadman.' The voice replied with a sadistic chuckle.

Tears fell down Jubilee's cheeks, shocked that she even had tears left after everything that had happened. Pushing back the thoughts she struggled on, toppling against the landing gasping for breath, the lights of the med lab standing off down the hallway as a beacon of hope. Checking on Hank once more, she carried on after finding a pulse. Her legs burning and her back aching, she closed the distance to the med bay in a frantic pace, every hammering beat of her heart a reminder of the knifes edge Hank's life lay.

"No! God no! Don't you do this to me! Do you not dare do this to me! After I dragged your hairy behind up here you can't die on me! You hear me you big blue butthead! You can't die on me!" Jubilee screamed as she did her best to administer CPR to the fallen X-man.

'Take off his suit frail, I mighta tore it ta shreds, but it's still gonna make it harder ta do what ya gotta do.' The voice called out, a mocking tone to it.

"Don't you ever take a hint?" Jubilee asked with venom in her voice, slowly peeling away the tattered remains of the cumbersome suit.

'I ain't the one in need of a hint frail. I'm dead. Yer the one talkin' ta ghosts.' The voice replied.

"Oh god. This is just like Wolvie, just like he was when we met. Bad shit crazy talking to people that weren't there, oh god, oh god, oh god..." Jubilee stuttered as she collapsed in a heap on the floor, her body exhausted and tired with her soul bleeding to death as she looked up to the ceiling.

'Don't like what ya got Frail? I coulda made it all better if ya just played nice fer yer Uncle Vic. But ya had ta be stubborn, just like yer Pappy Logan. I could have made the pain go away. Killed ya nice and quick, just a twist o' yer tiny little neck and snap, all over. But you just had to fight it. Only got yerself to blame.' The voice whispered in her ear, startling her as she felt breath on her neck.

Looking about the room, Jubilee saw that she was alone aside for the fallen Bobby Drake and Emma Frost across from her, alone with Hank dying on the bed next to her. Rage built in her as she jumped to her feet, slamming her fists into Hank's chest as she screamed wildy, lost to the anger and rage. Her vision grew dark as she felt hands grab her, pulling her away as she kicked and fought to break free.

"Leave me alone! I killed you! You're dead! You can't hurt me anymore!" Jubilee screamed as she collapsed in the arms, wails of pain echoing through the mansion drowning out all sound.

In the doorway, Yukio and Ororo stood aghast, while Remy held Jubilee in his arms fighting with the teen. As he pulled her from the med lab, Yukio and Ororo quickly ran to the bedside of Hank, pulling out a crash unit and working to bring him back from the brink. Tears fell freely as they heard the screams ring out from down the hall, Remy yelling to Jubilee if only to break through to her. Their hearts ached as the phrases repeated their maligned mantra, _I killed you! You can't hurt me anymore! _Yet as they worked they knew in the end someone had hurt her far beyond anything she should have suffered. Tearing her apart from the inside at a place where no physical blow could ever find home, leaving nothing but pain and terror filled screams.

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Thinking the worst was over as he passed through the gate, Jonothon Evan Starsmore looked through the crowd to see the parade of reunions and the happiness that welled in their hearts with the absence of their friends and family. He had none to meet him that he knew, just the letter in hand and a name, Sean Cassidy. With everything life had thrown at him, a lesser man might have succumbed to a fate that might have been insurmountable. He had met it with the proverbial and wholly British Stiff Upper Lip, learning to deal with the tragedy that had cost him so dearly.

With his carry on the only thing he needed, he longed to put the flight behind him be shown to the place he would soon call home. Fate it seemed though wasn't finished with him yet, a monstrosity fading into existence in front of him with a taloned hand clasping his face.

"Welcome to America Jonothon Starsmore, now die!" The vile thing cried, men and women scattering around him with a wail of a child.

From the corner of his eye he could see a pretty blonde race to snag the child, tumbling out of reach of the abomination before him. Somewhere a man's voice carried over the screaming of the crowd, a prelude to the cacophony to come with the resounding words tearing through the air in a deafening din...

"Release the Lad!" Sean Cassidy screamed.

Jono could see the mockery of a man flinch in pain, watching shredded fabric fly through the air on the unseen waves of sound. Feeling the beast's grip tighten upon his head, with the claws tearing through the bindings about his face, Jono looked on as the monster turned with an exchange to his would be saviours. A hand was raised with murderous intent as visible light flashed through the air with a rent of sound slashing across towards the trio, a boy standing before the blonde in anguish yet somehow striving to stand against the assault.

"I'm impressed." The monster remarked in an amused tone.

Anger rising as he had enough of playing the helpless victim if only from his surprise and shock, Jono looked on the vile monstrosity and let the tight grip over his power slip the wave crashing against him in answer to his need.

'You sincerely...want to be impressed? Try this...Pillock!' Jono shouted with his found voice.

The torrent tore from his chest, a vortex ripping about him to shatter the finished concrete beneath their feet still in the encumbered embrace. Denying the claims of the monster, Jono told the truth that little was impossible having found the will to deal with the destruction of his very flesh. Yet for it all the monster prattled on, calling for their surrender so he might feast on them only to be interrupted in his rant by a sound Jono could only dare describe as a _Blink_. A blur of motion strikes the vile beast, driving him further into the shattered cement mid-sentence.

"Hmm, I actually felt that." The creature muses with a glance skyward.

"It was Pain, Emplate. Get used to it." The airborne girl spat.

Jono saw the latest to join was a caramel skinned beauty who only had words for the monster she named in her attack, Emplate. Others stood on the field of what now could only be a battle, a blonde woman in white with a boy of grey sallow skin, and an elf whose skin was violet standing aside an Asian girl with sightless eyes of blue. Watching their entrance, Jono realized he had lost track of the trio who had sought to save him until he acted in his own defence, a cry from Sean Cassidy drawing his gaze to a horror unfolding.

"Paige!" Sean shouted all too late.

Jono watched helpless to act with the swiftness of the attack, the taloned claws of Emplate tearing down her chest in a bloody gash, her wail of anguish telling him he still might have a heart beating in his broken breast if only because he could feel it taken in an icy grip. Chaos eruptted anew, orders shouted daring to use the precious time they have to save her life. Instead the sallow skinned boy did the unthinkable after rushing to the side of the fallen Paige, his fingers reaching into the would to tear at it with a wretched rip. Laying unharmed in the tatters of her skin Paige looked with reserved respect for the vile fiend.

"Ah, dessert. How nice of you to oblige..." Emplate rasped from aside.

The Asian stood under him with a hand raised to Emplate's chest, Jono as helpless as the rest watching the taloned hand lower to her face with predatory swiftness. Yet instead of the attack he knew all too well himself, a sense of dread filled the hard eyes of the monster who only a moment before expressed only a gluttonous lust. The world exploded in a blinding flash, the nearest windows of the airport blown out as the shockwave tore over them to lay them low. Where Emplate stood menacing over the slight girl, she stood alone with blood trickling down her face from the cuts earned from the taloned fingers.

"Jubilee!" Sean yelled, rushing to her side.

Watching as she struggled with Sean to shirk him off, Jono looked on her as she took the first of many tentative steps towards them. With her expressionless eyes locked on Paige, she knelt next to her with a hand run over her chest where before the bloody gash had lay. Taken into her arms, Paige rocked her back and forth and whispered words of assurance as much for herself as the quiet girl. Knowing a long story when he saw one, Jono gave them some privacy as he looked to the rest.

"Dios, she didn't...did she?" The sallowed skinned boy asked.

"No, he fled. He must have realized what was about to happen just before she could have." The caramel skinned beauty assured, settling down with Paige and the girl Jono knew now to be Jubilee.

"Clarice, do you think you'd be fit enough to take us back to the school? Sean, I'll leave Everett with you for the drive back." The blonde in white asked, a smile offered to the violet girl who just nodded without a word.

In a moment of disconnect with time and space feeling wholly two separate things, joined along side sound that he again could only describe as a _Blink _though he had to wonder if he really heard it, Jono found he no longer stood in the ruin of the airport but now with the rest on a lawn before a school he'd only seen from a photo. Understanding how they had come so suddenly to join the fight, he looked to see the grey skinned boy holding out a hand in offer.

"Jono si? Angelo Espinosa, welcome to Generation X." Angelo said in greeting with a shake between them.

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Time had lost its meaning, the days blending into another as she sat in her room upon her bed with a hat upon her night stand and a note set upon its brim. People had come and gone, if she struggled she could remember their faces filled with concern. They cared for her in a way she could not herself bother anymore, having fed her and bathed her, hugged her and promised everything would be well again in time. Lies to children Jubilee, trying to protect her from the truth. That she had talked to Wolvie about finding a strength for her power from the revelation of her parents murder was a painful irony, having boasted she could kill with the right use of that newfound might.

In the end she hadn't even needed her powers to kill, all it had taken had been being too scared to act that cost Bishop his life after saving her. Creed though had been different, Hank had pulled through to get the core back online in time for her to reboot it. She'd found the only place she could to make her stand, used the only plan she could come up with. She'd killed him in the Danger Room with the safeties off and the laser field set to max. She couldn't then believe how long it had taken for him to die, sitting on that chair when she should have been rushing to Hank instead, Hank who now lay in a coma with no prognosis on if he'd recover.

Her door opened, light from the hall spilling in with a silhouette set against it that she had come to know well. The door shut with barely more than a click, his feet padding across her rug and the bed springs crying in protest as he sat down next to her. Feeling his gentle touch to her cheek, a tear spilled from her eyes as some part of her soul betrayed her needing the comfort she didn't deserve.

"P'tite?" Remy whispered.

She didn't say anything, she couldn't say anything for there were no words to explain herself. In the dim light of her room his red on black eyes smoldered with their own fire, a sadness in them as he looked on her. She felt herself taken into his arms, picked up as he settled on her bed with his back to the headboard, whispering in melodic french that could only be a lullaby. In the depths of her mind she could hear the grating laughter, feel him in the shadows of her room watching from the darkness.

She had lost something that night, beyond what she feared was her own grip on reality, she had lost the innocence Logan had lauded of her in that letter he'd left the night he'd gone to find a new meaning to his life. Held in Remy's arms with his gentle voice washing over her, sleep found her at last with no need to worry about the nightmares that might find her knowing she had lived the worst of them.

Remy did as he had done ever since she'd been returned to her room, tucking her under the covers and resting her head upon the pillow. The revelation of her ordeal had called for a painful watch, urged by the good Doctor MacTaggert, most resigned to admit she might well take her life otherwise. Remy had stayed with her through those long hours with her arms strapped to the bed, Jubilee laying still and lifeless with not a word spoken to her ghosts or any other. Placing a kiss to her cheek, he looked on her and struggled against his own grief for a long moment.

"Bonne Nuit." Remy whispered, hoping his words could reach her in some way as he took his leave.

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_Author's Note : Rewrite of the same story, the old one deleted feeling the need to start fresh. In the wake of that marvellous What If issue, this story will explore the formation of Generation X, jumping for a time from past to present just enough to explore what I need from the Phalanx Covenant. Gen X/-men Cannon is going off the rails soon enough, just keeping enough for Penance's introduction._


	2. Chapter 2

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made from this work.

"This might sting." Paige said, a cotton swab wet with rubbing alcohol as she once again cleaned the cuts on the poor girl's face.

Jubilee showed no emotion as the red lines were rubbed and washed, just staring past to the distant bed where another lay buried in blankets and a mask over her mouth. Following her gaze, Paige smiled and looked back to her patient. In another room she could hear the cries of Sean likely having held his macho facade long enough, Emma tending to his wounds after having his hands badly cut daring to carrying the girl who had been named Penance.

"You're a better patient than my big brother Sam, littlest cut and he'd go makin' a big deal out o' it. Course that was until he went off on with the New Mutants, I wonder if you ever met him?" Paige said, swabbing the cut dry with a clean cotton ball.

It hurt her to think that it was her own recklessness that had Jubilee so worried to act as she did, standing again against something as vile as that horrid creature Emplate. Looking to the cuts, she was thankful they didn't need bandages with any bleeding long ceased, looking little more than deep scratches now.

"C'mon Jubes, lets go up to the rec room." Paige said, holding her hand and trying to lead her from the bed.

Jubilee sat rigid inside, her gaze lost to the girl across from her on another bed, fighting against the light beckoning tugs. Ever since the mysterious Gateway had shown up with another enigma, she had been insistent on being at the centre of events. Now it seemed she longed to stay as Paige knelt before her, their blue eyes meeting though she couldn't read the younger girl.

"I'll ask Emma if you can stay, just promise me no sneaking off again, ya hear? Here, lets get you tucked in then." Paige said, a thumb run over the younger girl's cheek.

She found herself singing a lullaby she'd sing her younger sisters as she'd help her Momma tuck them in at night, one she remembered her Papa singing for her years before until that awful accident. Somewhere a door opened, the voices of Emma and Sean joined by Monet who sounded ever sure of herself as she lectured them. Wandering down the hall she turned the corner to the large medical database and froze, fear and anger weighing on her chest as she looked on the beast Emplate.

"Hello Paige, don't worry...it is only a hologram." Monet said with a smile from the controls of a console.

"And yes, Jubilee is fine to stay where she is. Oh don't look at me like that, your thoughts are quite loud when your concerned over something. It's an endearing trait." Emma said with a chuckle catching the sour look thrown her way.

"I'll just be up in the rec room then, I'll check on her later." Paige remarked, hating how much she was blushing then in her fury.

Stalking up the stairs and making her way across the quad to the main parts of the school proper, she had time to reign in her irritation at how self assured those two always looked. As much as she could learn from Emma, the woman could grate against her nerves that had her longing to say a few of the choice words her Momma would spout when angry. The aroma of coffee brewing helped ease her agitation, ignoring the looks thrown her way from the others as she fixed a cup.

"Hey Bonita, interest you in some scrabble?" Angelo called, Paige turning to see him sitting at a table with a board already set up.

With another glance to the room she caught sight of Everett and Clarice playing a game of what sounded to be Go Fish, no sign of the latest to join with Jonothon missing. Sipping her coffee she found one of her errant text books and settled down at the table, the challenging grin of Angelo enough to make her choice.

"So, how's our littlest Chica?" Angelo asked as he took his letters, offering the bag to Paige.

"Quiet, the cuts looked worse than they were. She stayed with Penance, she didn't want to leave." Paige replied, looking over her letters in thought.

"She's always quiet, it's when she goes boom we need to worry." Angelo added, laying out his first word.

From the corner of her eye she could see Clarice look up at his words, giving the boy across from her a hard kick under the table. Thankful that Everett drew the elfin girl back to their game, Paige saw the angry look fade from Angelo as he glanced their way and likely realized his err. With her own word in play though still tallying her score, Angelo hastily played his next that was very apt, Sorry.

"Triple word score too, good apology." Paige found herself teasing, a grin retuning to Angelo then.

"Puts me ahead too." Angelo chuckled, putting back some of his coke.

"Games still early, and I'm sure I know a whole heck o'...ahem, have a broader acceptable vocabulary." Paige threw back with a nudge of her glasses.

"Your colours are showin' country mouse, thick rimmed glasses and big borin' books can't hide what you are." Angelo taunted with a nod to her text.

"We'll see by the end of this..." Paige replied, quickly rearranging her letters with some inspiration coming, a well played Loser worth whatever points she lost for the expression on his face.

"Oh, it's that kind of game, two can play..." Angelo replied as he picked up the gauntlet, grinning with his own word played, Hick.

Looking to another from across the board without an ounce of ire or fire between them, the tone of the game was set. Tossing her thick text aside, Paige set to task with her fresh letters looking to outdo her opponent in a very real war of words.

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He'd gone to tuck her in only to find her bed empty, a moment of pain as his sadness throbbed as he quietly shut the door. There could only be a few places she would be, the first the easiest to check on though he hadn't expected nor been surprised to find the room just as empty as it had been the day that man had left. Remy couldn't blame him, though it didn't help to think out there somewhere unreachable by everyone. He could only hope Logan hadn't heard word yet of what had happened in his absence, the short time he'd known the man coming to understand how very badly he took things.

"It's raining, so I don' t'ink de P'tite would be foolish enough to to de roof...so dat leaves Henri." Remy whispered as he wandered the halls, a trip to the kitchen first as he fixed a couple cups of cocoa.

He didn't bother with the lights as he stepped in, his eyes long since grown accustomed to the darkness and shadows he had spent so much of his life in. The mournful cry of the heart monitor sounded the tattoo of the weakened heart, the most genuine and kindest man Remy had ever met in his life laying upon the bed as if asleep. He had walked those stairs many a night and imagined the struggle she would have had, thinking how hard it would have been for himself to carry the listless body of Henry McCoy up them.

The first surprise of the eve came that he wasn't alone as he thought he would be, the usual chair he had found Jubilee in occupied by another though with the slumbering girl in her arms. With her white hair washed red by the ambient lighting of so much equipment, he wondered if the reason for the unexpected storm outside was the one that raged in her heart. Stepping lightly to her he held the cup of cocoa in offer.

"I don t'ink she be needing it now, but maybe you could use a cup of somet'ing sweet, non?" Remy whispered.

Though with sadness in her eyes, Ororo managed a smile that seemed sincere as she took the cup, a sip that left her with a hint of froth and foam upon her lip. Another life and another time he might have broken into his flirtatious ways, this night though he simply wiped at his own lip after his sip and saw her do the same.

"Goddess, it is always the children who suffer the most. If I had just..." Ororo whispered, even in the depths of the sub levels of the school a crash of thunder heard.

"Stormy, take it from a man dat knows about regret, don go down dat road. Nothin' you find der help de P'tite, help Henry or could 'ave helped Bishop. We just be here now to pick up de pieces, yes?" Remy whispered, gently cupping her cheek in his hand and brushing the tear from her sad sapphire gaze.

He could see her nod softly, her cup set down to embrace the child in her lap with both her arms as she hugged her close. He'd lain awake many a night with those words haunting him, relentlessly torturing him, if only he'd stayed. Many around the school bore the same haunted look as they struggled through their day, their home so very much different without those usual faces about.

"Any word on...?" Remy asked with a nod to the comatose form of Hank.

"Only time will tell, it was so very close...I still cannot fathom how she..." Ororo whispered, a hand pressed to her lips to silence her.

"She did, dat be all dat matter. I trust de big blue to wake up, de man, he have a big heart. It's not going to let dis little one suffer." Remy whispered.

He could only pray his boast to be true, knowing the little one had suffered all too much for her young life to add any more to it. Even from the grave that damnable Creed had found a way to hurt him again, though this time so many more joining him, hoping whatever hell the man found himself in was as horrid as the final moments of the beasts life. He'd never admit it if asked, but he'd taken some satisfaction in the panic and fear that found itself in Victor Creed's eyes as the lasers lashed at his flesh. It'd taken a bit of doing, but any recording or recollection of those final moments gone from the world beyond what lay trapped within two minds, wishing he could just as easily wipe it clean from her as he had done the Danger Room.

"Did you wish to take her back to her room?" Ororo asked as she rose with the slumbering girl in her arms.

"Neh, I tuck her in here tonight and stay with her. I...I think she like to hear de sound of his heart, even if it just go beep beep for now. You get some sleep Stormy, tomorrow be another day, blue skies they be calling for." Remy whispered, taking Jubilee into his arms so very carefully as not to wake her.

"Forgive me..." Ororo whispered, a blush touching her mocha cheeks as she wiped her eyes.

"It be raining a lot around here as of late, but I just t'ink dat be de mood t'ese days. Don worry, I keep her safe and sound." Remy said as he settled his welcome burden down in another bed.

Alone with only the sound of her steps growing quiet, he found a chair and a blanket and curled up trying to find his own peace with the night. Slumber fell over him with weighted eyes cast shut, his breath growing even and soft in the quiet of the late eve. Yet as one fell to sleep another awoke, her eyes staring out into the darkness of the med bay to take comfort in the sound she had sought earlier. With her head resting against his chest ever so lightly she had heard the beat of his heart against his breast and known once more than he was still alive, finding the strength to go on living herself.

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Lost to the dream that was more a memory, the sound of the heart monitor growing in pitch and tempo roused her from her sleep to stare into another dimly lit med bay. Sitting in bed she looked around, the worry and confusion cast from her face as she recalled the reason Henry was nowhere to be found, another in his place this night and in this school. Jubilee looked to the girl across from her and saw her eyes open in a flickering instant, yet move she did not as she lay still and quiet. Blinking away the sleep the clung to her own eyes she watched as the blankets were torn with her taloned hand tearing at the mask.

Machinery was crying in protest to the assault, somewhere an alarm ringing away, but still she sat without worry as she saw something familiar in the actions of the red girl. Landing in a crouch, Penance looked around the room to slash at the crying sounds if only to bring quiet again in a destructive dervish. With the light snuffed out and her own curiosity getting the better of her, Jubilee raised a hand that a spark leapt from and hung in the air, the red girl with a clawed hand poised over her face ready to strike.

Neither said a word nor moved with the crackling hiss of the spark bringing light, both looking to another with eyes that spoke of everything they had suffered. Penance gave the briefest tilt of her head with a look to the scratches on the others face, her long fingers easing close and spreading the mirror the marks. Yet as Jubilee did so in kind, the tips of her fingers brushing gently against the others brow with blood drawn, Penance vanished in a swift motion that had her tearing through the door and to the hall beyond.

Staring down to her dripping fingers, Jubilee took one in her mouth and suckled at it like any cut or scrape, the light of her spark snuffed out in a crackling pop as it died. In the depths of her mind something stirred at the taste of blood and spilled out into the shadowy room, a growling heard and rumbling like a hungry caged beast. Letting her finger fall from her lips she denied it, nothing she ever had to be afraid of again. It was nothing more than a ghost, it couldn't hurt her, but it didn't change anything or the blame she bore for letting it happen.

"Jubilee!" Monet's voice called from the darkness.

Looking on her she could see that Monet wasn't alone, the lighting in the hall flooding into the darkness of the destroyed room. Picked up and cradled, she showed her wounded hand with the blood running down her wrist, a gasp heard from many that she somehow knew wasn't meant for her. The red girl had run, the one _He_ had brought, the girl who had been bound and chained in leather and buckles so much like the quiet boy had about his chest.

"Come, lets get you bandaged up." Monet whispered, stepping through the rest as they surveyed the damage and rallied their plan.

In the quiet of the nurses office up a flight of stairs she sat with a sucker in her mouth where her finger had been before, Monet gently tending to her damaged tips. This time the rubbing alcohol brought a tear to her eyes though her fingers didn't flinch at the pain, Monet looking up apologetic to her as she cleaned the wounds.

"Mister Cassidy wasn't so quiet as this." Monet chuckled.

"Your bedside manner might be better than mine, perhaps I should have given him a lollipop." Emma called from the door.

"Perhaps." Monet replied shortly, wrapping her patients fingertips in gauze and bandaging them up.

"You haven't noticed anything have you?" Emma asked as she walked in with the click of her heels over the tiles, the same that had announced her wandering up the hall.

"Not by the way I'm sure you mean, but if Jubilee was scared I think we know how she would have reacted. I believe the one who is scared is Penance." Monet replied, then dabbing at the lone tear trailing down Jubilee's cheek with a finger.

"I would hate to see her angry if what happened to my medical bay was her just scared, the wall was reinforced with omnium polymer, Wolverine in his prime would..." Emma started, her voice silenced as she found herself held in the gaze of the quiet girl sitting on the bed.

"A poor choice of words, though I understand your point." Monet said, a hand trailing down Jubilee's back with some gentle strokes.

"The rest are assembling out front, we're going to go looking for her before she can run off. If you're right about the relationship Emplate had to her I will not let that monster have her again." Emma replied, doing her best to look as she so very rarely felt as she looked to Jubilee, apologetic.

"Of course I'm right, and in this instance I can agree with you Emma. I'll get Jubilee bundled up, though I'm not sure who we can saddle her with to keep an eye on her." Monet said, a hint of smugness at her familiar use of her supposed teachers name.

"I'll see you there then, and if you can hear me Jubilation, I...apologize." Emma said, a hand reached out to brush at a stray lock of her hair.

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The one he had been waiting for hadn't been the one he found tumbling and clawing through the brush, though it did explain the odd feeling of being watched more than once though he could not find any trace nor tell about him. Sitting on the log he waited as he had been, his hands clasped and the psonic flames rippling from his chest dispelling the darkness only to be outshone by the lashing of lightning.

Jonothon had left on his own as the others had formed up in search of that wayward girl, having sensed something in her that he was able to relate all too well to himself. Trapped in their own bodies they were victims, kindred spirits with only the cruel fates to blame. Looking on the slip of a gel as she huddled in the rain, he didn't say anything instead leaving her to watch from the safe place she had found. He knew she's there for the same reason as he and welcomed the company, ignoring the driving rain that fell against him.

Out in the woods he could catch the slips of emotion and the tumultuous torrent of errant thoughts telling their tale, one of a scared girl lashing out at anything that could ever hurt her again. Hearing the crack of a branch he notices another sneaking near him now, her face wet with rain and her hair slicked back. She settles with him on the log, Jono reaching over to pull her fallen hood back up in a vain gesture.

'Maybe if they just sent us they could have avoided all that...' Jono voices, a touch of regret as he catches the wash of emotions flooding the night.

Realizing he's speaking to himself, her mind closed so tight there's no way she could ever feel the brush of his mind speaking what he cannot aloud anymore, he settles to draw her close to him and is thankful as she settles against his side. In the morning he might ask the questions he had no reason to before, but with a look her eyes he finds his reason now seeing another trapped in her own way.

He can feel her coming now, the one that had been named Penance, stalking through the woods in a bid for freedom that he somehow knows has been denied her all too long. Climbing to his feet, Jono offers his hand to Jubilee, surprised at how warm her touch really is as he takes her tiny one in his own.

'No need to be afraid luv...' Jono voices for them both.

In the darkness with the dying of the last lash of lightning he can see her silhouette crouched on a log, the glitter of her blue eyes reflecting the light cast by his psonic energy coiling about his chest. Thinking there's been enough of hiding in the shadows he lets that energy free as it snakes and slithers through those dark places banishing the black night. He knows how much being mutants have cost them both, wondering if she's as tired of running as he is.

'Come on...let's prove to these guys you don't want to...hurt anybody.' Jono voices with his hand held out in offer.

She lunges at him though he is not afraid, he knows her heart in that moment as well as his own as her slender lengthy fingers fall short of his face in an embrace he knows all too well of another. Staring into her eyes, he lets his soul be shown in his own. In the driven waves of rain she proves him right, crouched and looking so very tired with her eyes cast down. Another finds them then with her knees falling to the soaked earth, looking up to her in the warm light cast by him. Reaching out so very gently Jubilee touches a droplet that clings to Penance, warm where the rain hurled by the heavens is chill and cold.

'I think one already knows...' Jono voices in that last moment of peace and privacy, already the others racing through the woods to the beacon he had cast.

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Author's Note : This one goes out to J Elise, I'm so glad this complimented that other story you read. Anyone else whose enjoying feel free to drop a line, though as always, many thanks and enjoy. More to come.


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